Outskirts of Jakarta ,
Indonesia November 6, 0410 hours.
Yusman knew he was early so he waited patiently in
his car parked two hundred metres outside the refinery gates in Segarajaya -- a
province about 13
kilometres northeast of Jakarta. The order had been
given and the operation that he had waited all these months for was finally
about to get underway.
Soon he spotted the first tanker leaving the complex. The other six, all painted in the company’s trademark white and green colours, soon followed along obediently forming a small convoy through the deserted streets.
They turned to the east heading further
away from the city. This was their scheduled route which would take them to
their original destination in Surabaya 600
kilometres away. This routine journey made once a
fortnight, was expected to take some eight hours because of the country’s speed
restrictions on such heavy vehicles.
It would give him until noon at the latest to accomplish his task before
someone would raise the alarm when the convoy failed to arrive at its
destination. But Yusman knew that he would need only about half that time. After travelling for about 15 minutes, the
vehicles each loaded with 34,000 litres of petroleum, turned south and headed to
a disused warehouse located on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Steel doors were
shut and locked as the last tanker entered the old building. Yusman and his
team were already there waiting eagerly as the drivers lined up their vehicles.
The men wasted no
time in getting down to business. First the vapour vent
cover on top of each tanker was removed. Slowly and with great care, the men
using a long PVC pipe began pouring in just over 200 kilogrammes of assorted
heavy nails, screws, industrial nuts and steel ball bearings. These had been
coated earlier in heavy oil to prevent them from rubbing together causing a
spark. Soon they covered the base of each eight-metre tank filled with light
petroleum. These metal objects would form the deadly shrapnel for the mobile
bombs increasing their anti-personnel lethality.
Next the men tackled the engine compartment
placing a small canister filled mainly with potassium chlorate and several other chemicals. A
small pull-action primer was inserted to initiate the device which was then
encased in insulating foam to prevent overheating from the engine which could
cause a premature detonation. The device was fastened to the engine block and a
thin wire connected to the primer, was threaded into the driver’s cabin. It
would take just a simple tug on the wire to active the device. The primer would
then spark causing the chemicals inside to burn producing a constant stream of
black smoke.
Finally the explosives were put in place. A
single kilogram block of RDX, a stable military-grade explosive, was attached
to the underside hull of each tanker. Shaped into the letter V with a thick
metal underplate, the explosive was then rigged to be detonated remotely using
the microwave signal from a handphone. Because of its more complex design, the
microwave triggers were built and tested several days earlier. All that the men
had to do now was to insert the electric detonator into each explosive block.
The V shape of the charge would direct the
force of the explosion upwards towards the body of the tanker blasting it apart
and igniting its flammable contents.
The men rigging the vehicles had practiced
their jobs well and by 6:50am ,
all seven tankers were primed and ready. The two explosive experts who had
supervised the work, examined each truck one final time making sure all was in
order.
Meanwhile Yusman gathered his drivers and
their attendants for a final briefing. Each man wore a dark blue company jacket
over his civilian shirt and a blue baseball cap pulled low. Yusman went over in
detail the plans they had all heard many times before. Using a large map of the
city, he pointed out to the drivers the alternate route each team could take to
reach its primary target should it become necessary to deviate from the
original plan.
Each team also had a secondary target. If
the men felt they could not reach their primary objective in time perhaps
because of heavy congestion, the team would then head to their alternate kill
zone. Timing he stressed, was everything. They would not have far to travel but
each tanker had to be in place at exactly 8:30am .
Traffic on the outskirts of Jakarta
This operation was not expected to be a
suicide mission and the men could reasonably expect to return safely but only
if everything went exactly to plan.
Just as he ended his briefing, Yusman
handed each attendant a grenade. These along with the RDX explosives, had been
stolen two months earlier from a military barracks in Banda Aceh on the western
tip of Java. He warned the men that the grenades were only to be used as a last
resort should the main explosives fail to detonate.
Yusman showed them exactly where the
grenade should be placed under the most vulnerable part of the tanker if it
came to that. He did not have to tell them that should the use of a grenade
become necessary, given its short four-second fuse, the men would almost
certainly be caught up in the resulting blast and survival would be near
impossible.
With the briefing over and final prayers
said, the teams mounted their respective vehicles to await the order to leave.
Most were consumed with their own thoughts about the carnage soon to be
unleashed but a few seasoned hands seemed unperturbed by the real dangers they
faced.
At 8:02am
the first truck called Tanker One began rolling out of the warehouse. Over the next nine minutes, the remaining
vehicles began their short one-way journey into history.
Yusman watched
them go in a heady mix of excitement, apprehension and also a tinge of sadness.
This would be his biggest and most complex operation to date -- and also his
last. For it to work perfectly, the teams needed to follow their instructions
to the letter.
He checked his
watch again. It was time for him to leave and head back to his safe house a
six-minute drive away. From the balcony of this 10th storey
apartment, he would be able to see his final mission live and in person.
Tanker One headed to Blok M, a business cum shopping centre located in
Kebayoran Baru in South Jakarta. Built some 20 years earlier, the area was
always packed with locals and tourists out for some bargain hunting. The narrow
two-lane roads around the area, all one-way traffic, were frequently congested
and today it was no different.
The driver
expertly maneuvered his cumbersome 10-wheeled vehicle through the chaotic
traffic as the attendant checked his watch. At precisely 8:27am as they passed
the front of Blok M, the driver veered sharply from the left lane to the right
narrowly missing an elderly motorcyclist before mounting the curb and hitting a
small tree. With the tanker stopped at an angle, the entire road was
effectively blocked off bringing all traffic behind it to a grinding halt. As
the vehicle mounted the curb, the attendant triggered the smoke canister in the
engine compartment, causing a small but constant stream of black smoke to
emerge from the engine bay.
A crowd of
curious on-lookers soon gathered to get a better view of the apparent accident
and the traffic build-up was almost instantaneous. Amidst the blaring horns
from disgruntled motorists, both men alighted from their seemingly immobile
truck. The attendant picked up his handphone making a show of calling for
assistance. As they walked through the swelling crowd, they casually discarded
their distinctive blue jackets and caps which helped them blend into the
background.
Barely 60 seconds
later, both men had disappeared into the crowd as the attendant punched in the
activation number on his handphone. When they were 200 metres away and shielded
by a large concrete wall, the attendant crouched down, checked his watch and
hit the green call button.
The time was
8:30am -- precisely.
No one could
discern the double explosions as the first happened a fraction of a second
before the following blast. The RDX tore through the hull of the tanker
instantly setting aflame the 34,000 litres of petroleum. This was only about
a third of the fuel carried by American Airlines Flight 11 -- the first plane
to hit New York’s World Trade Center in the terrorist attack on September 11,
2001. Still the effects were no less chilling.
The huge fireball
fuelled by the petroleum reached over 300 metres into the sky
as the pressure wave blew out windows up to half a kilometre away. The thick
smoke shielded for a time, the utter devastation on the ground. Vehicles next
to the tanker had also exploded and were left burning, leaving behind the
charred and blackened remains of their occupants still strapped in their seats.
Further out from
the immediate blast zone, scores of people, many of them onlookers, lay dead in
an untidy heap of dismembered body parts burnt beyond recognition. Those
fortunate enough to be further away from the immediate kill zone of Tanker One
were hit by shrapnel blasted out from the exploding vehicle.
The effects on
office workers, tourists and ordinary folk going about their daily business in
this busy district, were no less horrific than being caught in a merciless hail
of bullets. Some were decapitated instantly, their now lifeless bodies still
moving forward a step or two before crumpling to the ground. Others were cruelly
torn apart by the shrapnel which exited their bodies with still lethal force.
Large glass
shards falling from the surrounding buildings also took out more innocent
victims as the flaming petroleum flowing across roads and through drains,
started a rolling series of building fires that would continue to burn well into
the evening.
The intense fires
coupled with the grid-locked roads, prevented ambulances and other emergency
vehicles from reaching the victims still clinging to life. Those who were still
conscious would hear the approaching sirens but help for them would never
arrive in time.
Tanker Four was tasked
with a more symbolic hit -- the American Embassy. This fortified building was
set well away from the busy boulevard it fronted.
As the vehicle neared the front of the
embassy, the driver braced himself for the impact as he gunned his engine. The
tanker lurched forward crashing into the rear of the van he was following.
Immediately on contact, the attendant triggered the smoke device sending a
cloud of black smoke billowing out from the engine.
Stopping by the roadside 70 metres away from the
embassy’s guard post, the ‘accident’ had already triggered a security response.
With two armed guards running to the scene, the attack team dismounted from the
vehicle. The embassy’s security men with weapons drawn, ensured that no one was
hurt before escorting the driver and attendant back to the guard post.
A small crowd of about 20 people were lined
up at another gate close by, waiting to enter this highly-protected building to
apply for US visas. More security guards were arriving by the minute as the
attendant, who had already keyed in the attack code, pressed the green call
button on his handphone.
The time was 8:30am -- precisely.
The resulting explosion mirrored the others
that were taking place all over Jakarta
Both team members, who were still well
within the kill zone, knew that there was no way out for them. There was barely
enough time for a silent prayer as a rain of deadly shrapnel tore through their
bodies with ease. Five security guards and most of the crowd outside the
embassy were also struck down, many fatally.
The embassy itself suffered no significant
damage apart from some broken windows caused by the pressure wave from the
explosion. Only four employees were injured by the flying glass but all would
live to recount the horror of November 6.
In planning the hit, JI knew that the
damage to the embassy would be light but still the message would be delivered
loud and clear to the Americans that they were still in the crosshairs.
But it would be Tanker Seven that would
deliver the most horrific example of pure terrorism to
the Americans and the rest of the watching world.
The men of Tanker
Seven pulled their vehicle over to the side of the street just before a road
hump about 200 metres
from the entrance to the Indonesia American School. It was far enough away so
as not to arouse suspicion of the school guards and yet be close enough to
their approaching targets. School was due to start at 8:45am and the buses loaded with the first and
second grade students should be arriving any minute now.
The tanker driver made a show of opening
the hood of the engine bay and fiddling with the cables. He checked his watch.
It was 8:26am . Leaving his
hazard lights on and the hood open, he and his partner began walking away. The
latter had already keyed in the telephone number into his handphone. Now all
that was left for them to do was wait.
Three minutes later, the two yellow school
buses turned the corner and slowed down as they approached the road hump. They
were driving just three metres apart now and were right on schedule as they
neared the tanker.
The attendant waited from his vantage point
300 metres
away until both buses were aligned with the tanker. From his left, he heard the
first sound of an explosion a few kilometres away. The attack had begun as he
keyed the call button of his handphone.
The white flash and deafening blast caught
the man by surprise and it took several seconds for him to regain his senses.
Instinctively he checked his watch. It was 12 seconds after 8:30am and his job was done.
The blast ripped through both buses as they
were tossed on their sides and sent spinning like giant tops across the road by
the pressure wave. Burning oil soon engulfed these vehicles drowning out any
final screams from those children trapped inside. There would be no survivors.
One press photographer who happened to be
nearby would soon take a picture that the world would remember for years to
come. Amidst the smoke and burning embers, the small blackened hand of a dead
child -- with the flesh charred almost to the bone, reached out from one window
of the overturned bus as if pleading for help -- an innocent, silent cry that
the world failed to hear.
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